{"product_id":"the-last-samurai","title":"The Last Samurai","description":"\u003cp\u003eHelen DeWitt's 2000 debut, The Last Samurai, was \"destined to become a cult classic\" (Miramax). The enterprising publisher sold the rights in twenty countries, so \"Why not just, 'destined to become a classic?'\" (Garth Risk Hallberg) And why must cultists tell the uninitiated it has nothing to do with Tom Cruise?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSibylla, an American-at-Oxford turned loose on London, finds herself trapped as a single mother after a misguided one-night stand. High-minded principles of child-rearing work disastrously well. J. S. Mill (taught Greek at three) and Yo Yo Ma (Bach at two) claimed the methods would work with any child; when these succeed with the boy Ludo, he causes havoc at school and is home again in a month. (Is he a prodigy, a genius? Readers looking over Ludo's shoulder find themselves easily reading Greek and more.) Lacking male role models for a fatherless boy, Sibylla turns to endless replays of Kurosawa's masterpiece Seven Samurai. But Ludo is obsessed with the one thing he wants and doesn't know: his father's name. At eleven, inspired by his own take on the classic film, he sets out on a secret quest for the father he never knew. He'll be punched, sliced, and threatened with retribution. He may not live to see twelve. Or he may find a real samurai and save a mother who thinks boredom a fate worse than death.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New Directions","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55393405960265,"sku":null,"price":13.95,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0956\/5336\/3785\/files\/22638983482476.jpg?v=1767470562","url":"https:\/\/morebetterbooks.com\/products\/the-last-samurai","provider":"More Better Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}